Issue 5| September 2022
CORE Voice Newsletter, Issue 5,
September 2022
In This Issue

  • The Church Functioning as Jesus Intended
  • Guess Who Is Unwelcome in an ELCA Seminary?
  • Glaring Omission in the ELCA's CWA Highlights
  • Improving Congregational Singing
  • Encuentro Returns
  • The Academic Journal SIMUL in a Nutshell
  • Memorial Dinner for ALPB's Dorothy Zelenko
  • New Video Book Review for September and ...

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Igniting Renewal Through Mission

Editor’s Note: K. Craig Moorman is an NALC pastor of River’s Edge Ministries in Maryland and is a member of the board of Lutheran CORE. Pr. Moorman encourages you to read Part 1 of his article as background for Part 2. Click here to read Part 1 which was published in July of 2022.

 Amid our first City Mission in April of 2014, the temperature dropped dramatically and unexpectedly to a bone-chilling 19°. Our base of operations was a 30’ x 50’ tent—we were not in the comfort, warmth, and familiarity of a church setting. This is how City Mission was born. It was an important moment of discovery, more of a blessed eureka moment, when we stumbled upon a basic truth: Renewal is ignited through mission. […]

This is how it all began. It was cold, uncomfortable, unfamiliar, and a little chaotic. Believe me, it was neither perfectly planned nor executed! We have since unofficially adopted a guiding principle, “Expect the unexpected ... and see what God does.” [...]

Later that same day and into the evening hours, after all our 50-60 participants/leaders retired for the night, either commuting back to their homes or to their scattered tents, Brother Ray and I moved back into the quiet of the big tent and sat down on a couple of bales of hay. I’ll never forget my dear friend looking up, with tears in his eyes and saying, “It just doesn’t get any better than this.” [...]
Highlights of the ELCA Churchwide Assembly
by Pr. Dennis D. Nelson, Lutheran CORE Executive Director

NO MENTION OF JESUS OR GOD
 
Here is a link to the ELCA’s description of the Highlights of its own recent Churchwide Assembly. Please notice. Two words are conspicuously absent – the words “Jesus” and “God.”  

 This is even worse than the ELCA’s own […]

UPDATED UNDERSTANDING 

In my August letter from the director I expressed my concern that the 1991 social statement on abortion (which is more conservative than what most in the ELCA would want) could be gotten rid of through [...]
No Acceptance of Confessional Faith at My ELCA Seminary
submitted by Pr. Dennis D. Nelson, Lutheran CORE Executive Director

Note from CORE’s Executive Director: Many thanks to a seminarian, who wishes to remain anonymous, for writing about what it was like to attend an ELCA seminary. Students considering enrolling in an ELCA seminary, as well as members of orthodox congregations still in the ELCA, need to know what is being taught and what they can expect from their future pastor. Will this kind of woke educational experience train someone who will provide good pastoral care and leadership for your congregation? Those who believe that theologically solid pastors are and will continue to be available within the ELCA should know that there are some (Thanks be to God!) but the number is decreasingly rapidly.

I attended United Lutheran Seminary (United), in Gettysburg, for 3 semesters. My time there led me to realize that there was no place for a confessional Lutheran faith within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Growing up in central Pennsylvania, I knew nothing of the other Lutheran denominations. Every Lutheran church within an hour of my house was ELCA and that was all I knew. Upon entering seminary, I was assured by my synod’s bishop that there was a place for a confessional Lutheran in the “big-tent,” that is the ELCA.

United did not share this view and I realized this in my first semester, when I began questioning the “sacred doctrines” of the ELCA that were invented in the last 10 years. [...]
Encouraging and Improving Congregational Singing

First off, this is not an article about the relative merits of traditional and/or contemporary hymns and songs. So even if you suspect you might have a “chip on your shoulder” on that particular issue, you can calm down and read on. This article is about congregational singing regardless of whether your church sings traditional hymns; or contemporary Christian songs; or a blend of both. I want to focus on what is involved in facilitating quality congregational singing. In other words, what pastors and congregational leaders can do to encourage a high percentage of your members to actually participate and sing aloud during worship. [...]
Inter-Lutheran Hispanic-Latino Ministry Encuentro Returns October 15th
by Pr. Keith Forni, STS, Encuentro Convener, and former member of the Board of Lutheran CORE

After two consecutive pandemic cancellations, the Inter-Lutheran Hispanic-Latino Ministry Encuentro will take place again on Saturday, October 15th, 2022, 9:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. in Chicago’s Hermosa Neighborhood, offering a day of learning, worship, resource sharing and fellowship at St. Timothy Lutheran Church, 2101 N. Kildare Avenue (at Dickens), on Chicago’s northwest side. Free off-street parking is available.
          
Celebrating its 30th Anniversary, the Bilingual Ministry Resource Center (based in Joliet and Chicago) will co-sponsor the Encuentro with Lutheran CORE. A complimentary bilingual resource packet will be given to all participants. [...]
SIMUL: A New Academic Journal
by Dennis Di Mauro, NALC pastor and member of the Teaching Faculty at Saint Paul Lutheran Seminary

In the fall of 2021, St. Paul Lutheran Seminary launched a new academic Journal called SIMUL, and since that time its pages have featured articles by Bob Benne, Mark Granquist, Brad Hales, and many others.

But Why a New Journal?

When one looks at the landscape of Lutheran publications in the United States, there are many fine journals to choose from, including Lutheran Forum, ProEcclesia, Lutheran Quarterly, and Logia, just to name a few. So what makes SIMUL different?

1) It’s free. Its readers pay nothing to  [...]
2) It’s online. To keep SIMUL free, it is offered online only. SIMUL can be accessed [...]
3) It’s readable. Let’s face it - you probably subscribe to a few print journals and actually read only one or two articles from every issue. Then you throw that copy out, feeling a little guilty. [...]
4) It’s academic, but it’s written for the church [...]
Video Ministries

September 2022
by Pastor Dennis D. Nelson, Lutheran CORE Executive Director

Lutheran CORE is always looking for ways to take our ministry to the next level and expand our work of being a Voice for Biblical Truth and a Network for Confessing Lutherans. Our most recent new effort is to expand our video ministry.
 
For about two years we have been posting on our You Tube channel a new video book review on the first day of every month. Many thanks to the Lutheran pastors and theologians who have been recording these reviews of books of interest and importance. 
 
We are calling our new video ministry CORE Convictions.  This new video series is being planned particularly for those who are looking to strengthen and renew their Christian faith.  [...]
Invitation to Memorial Banquet
On October 1, 2022, from 1-5 pm the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau (ALPB) will remember long-time treasurer Dorothy Zelenko with a memorial banquet at JC Fogarty's, 60 Kraft Ave. Bronxville, NY. Fogarty's is within walking distance of the Bronxville Metro-North stop.
The Rev. Dr. Dien Ashley Taylor, Pastor at Redeemer Lutheran Church in the Bronx, and First Vice-President of the Atlantic District, will be our event speaker as we remember Dorothy and honor the pioneering work that she and Fred Schumacher did in bringing to fruition For All the Saints.
The menu will include appetizers, salad, a choice of chicken marsala, salmon, sliced steak, choice of apple pie, or ice cream, cash bar. The price is $30.
Please make your reservation by calling Donna Roche at 607-746-7511.
A copy of an obituary written by Pr. Frederick Schumacher can be found here.
Coming Events
  • LCMC 22nd Annual Gathering & Convention - Lakeville, MN - October 2-5, 2022. Click here.
  • ENCUENTRO 2022 - Chicago, IL - October 15, 2022. Click here.
  • 2023 Pastors' Conference - San Antonio, TX - January 31 - February 2, 2023. Click here.
  • NEXUS 2023 - Des Moines, IA - July 16-22, 2023. Click here.
  • NALC Lutheran Week 2023 - Oklahoma City, OK - August 7-11, 2023. Click here.
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  • A Voice for Biblical Truth

Our purpose can be summed up in two words– Network  and  Voice. As  Network  for confessing Lutherans, we support and connect Lutheran individuals and congregations who seek to live in accord with Biblical and confessional teachings and practices. As a  Prophetic Voice, we advocate for Biblical authority and confessional fidelity among churches of the Lutheran community.

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